If you're someone who is going for CE, AOTC, or the Mythic+ title Tempered Hero in World of Warcraft: The War Within, you know that it pays off to be geared ahead of everyone else.
Next Tuesday, September 10th, Blizzard is releasing Normal and Heroic raid, Mythic 0 level dungeons and higher difficulty delves, giving players the chance to get better gear before Mythic raid and Mythic+ releases on the 17th.
Through a combination of hard work and luck, some lucky players will be able to get close to item level 619 with their War Within tier sets before Mythic raid and Mythic+ even releases!
This concise guide breaks down how to get the highest item level gear possible between the 10th and the 17th, fill your Great Vault to open on the 17th, and possibly get your tier set as well!
Maxing out Item Level before Mythic raid and Mythic+:
Running M0's every day:
Maxing out your item level before Mythic raid is required by most guilds that get the Ahead-of-the-Curve and Cutting-Edge achievements every expansion, and it certainly gives you an advantage if you want to get the Mythic+ title as well. Next week, when M0's (or Mythic difficulty dungeons) release, players will be able to run all 8 dungeons on Mythic difficulty every single day.
For The War Within, Blizzard changed the M0 dungeon lockouts to every day instead of every week, meaning players can do a world tour to try and collect Veteran level gear every single day!
An additional change that Blizzard made to The War Within is that Mythic 0 dungeons will be the same as the Mythic+ rotation. The 8 dungeons releasing next week are Ara-Kara, City of Echoes, City of Threads, The Stonevault, and The Dawnbreaker from The War Within, The Necrotic Wake, and Mists of Tirna Scithe from Shadowlands, Siege of Boralus from BFA, and Grim Batol from Cataclysm.
Veteran level gear can be upgraded to 610. Players that are lucky with loot drops will be able to be collect a ton of Veteran level gear by completing all 8 dungeons every day before Mythic raid and Mythic+ release.
Along with collecting gear from the Mythic dungeons themselves, you'll also be filling up your Great Vault with 603 item level gear to unlock next Tuesday when the rest of The War Within content releases!
Completing level 7-11 tier Delves:
While loot is dropped randomly in dungeons, Delves give players the chance to collect guaranteed loot. If you use a Restored Coffer key at the end of a Bountiful Delve level 7 to 11, you will receive a Champion level piece of gear that could be upgraded to item level 619!
You can get Restored Coffer keys a few different ways. Players can collect and combine 100 Coffer Key Shards collected from World Quests, Radiant Echoes and other outdoor quests. You can also get keys from Special Assignments and from leveling up renown with The War Within factions.
On top of getting Champion level loot from Bountiful Delves, you can also start filling up your Great Vault with rewards next week! Blizzard just changed the Great Vault requirements for delves. Initially, you had to do 12 Delves to fill all three slots in your Great Vault. You now only have to complete 8 Delves weekly to fill the slots in your Great Vault.
If you complete 8 level 7 to 11 Delves, you'll have 3 Hero-track pieces to pick from next week when the Mythic+ season officially starts.
Getting Gear from LFR, Normal, and Heroic Raid:
The third way players are able to collect higher level gear next week is through raiding. On Tuesday, Normal and Heroic level raids, as well as the first wing of Raid Finder, releases. Raid Finder, or Looking for Raid, drops Veteran level gear, item level 584 to 610.
Normal raid loot is Champion gear, item level 597 to 619, and Heroic raid loot will be on the Hero track and can be upgraded to item level 626. While world-first guilds will be running a ton of heroic splits next week to prepare for Mythic raid, the majority of players can expect to clear Normal raid next week and get geared up to item level 619.
For even more details on how to maximize your item level, see Wowhead's complete guide on how to gear for Season 1.
How to Get Your 2 or 4-Piece Tier Set Next Week:
If you're lucky with loot drops or have high priority in your raiding guild, there's a chance that you'll be able to get your two or four-piece tier set before Mythic+ and Mythic raid release on the 17th. Here's what you need to do to hypothetically get four-piece next week:
Catalyze a piece of gear. The catalyst releases next Tuesday the 1oth, allowing players to turn pieces of gear from dungeons and raid into tier pieces. You only get one catalyst charge every other week, so it's important to choose carefully. It may be best to wait until after you raid to see what tier pieces you end up with first.
Get your second piece of tier by getting the AOTC achievement in raid or by getting 1800 rating in PvP. Players receive a token that can be turning into a piece of tier by getting KSM, AOTC, or 1800 rating in PvP. Since the chance to get KSM doesn't come out until the 17th, players can either get AOTC or 1800 PvP rating to get another piece of tier.
Get lucky in raid. If you have priority loot in your guild or get lucky in raid, you can get an additional 1-2 pieces of tier next week. Theoretically, you have three chances to get tier next week by doing the first wing of LFR, Normal Raid, and Heroic Raid. Although, the majority of guilds will only be able to clear Normal Raid and maybe a couple bosses of Heroic.
Do not forget to do the first wing of LFR, since taking a lower-level piece of gear that gives you a tier-set bonus is often still a DPS increase.
Many hardworking players can hope to start Season 1 of Mythic+ with their 2-piece War Within tier sets by catalyzing a piece of gear and hopefully getting 1 piece of tier from raid. Since it's very possible you won't get lucky, it's important to fill the Great Vault as much as possible, since you have the chance to find a tier piece there on the 17th.
The week of September 10th to the 17th is crucial for World of Warcraft players aiming to get AOTC, CE, and the Mythic+ title in Season 1 of The War Within.
Here is a summary of what players should do to max out their item level and even get 2 or 4-piece tier set before the season starts:
Do a world tour of M0 dungeons every day
Complete 8 Tier-7 or 8 Bountiful Delves
Complete the raid on all 3 released difficulties
Catalyze a piece of gear
Get 1800 rating in PvP
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